kollo_rpg | A Day (2) In the Life

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A Day (2) In the Life

Viola is... not a sun person. When the notice dings on her communicator, it stirs her out of her sleep, and she unfortunately rolls right into view of a sun beam. With a groan, she knows getting any more sleep before the rest of the day is lost. She thought she'd have to call up one of her maids, but she then remembered--she's not home. No one to wait on her. That's fair, she should be doing things on her own, after all. She would have liked being able to sleep in more, she might need to get some thicker curtains.

After taking a moment to collect herself, Viola decides to head out towards the commons for breakfast. Not too many people around, so she opted to simply eat and leave, unless interrupted. She wanted to get a feel for the island and start exploring it. Her goals for today is to get into some more comfortable seasonal clothing (or make her own), then tour as much of the island as possible in between lunch and dinner.

After breakfast, her first stop is the general store. Judging by her regular, gothic outfit, Viola's still looking for dark clothes... just lighter fabrics. The clothes here are very different though, and she has a critical eye on each of them. Many of them look very nice... just not on her. Alabaster skin and pitch-black hair tended to be tricky to match with pastel colors, in her opinion.

Once she manages to find something suitable, she decided to go tour the library. She'd like to go hiking, but she also realized that it was pretty hot outside, and she'd roast! So she decided to explore the library for a little while. The books are very interesting, telling tales of worlds so far off she can scarcely imagine them. She seemed the most drawn to fantasy, thrillers and horror, as they're a little more familiar to her world. If not perturbed, she'll probably fall asleep during the early afternoon, rousing from slumber a little before dinner.

It's sunset before she ventures outside. And it's fairly late too, so Viola felt that perhaps it was safe to shed her wings and go flying, looking for points of interest, like the ones outlined on her map. In the darkness of night, Viola felt a little more free, and perhaps a bit more bold, in exploring the island, though she would take care not to heedlessly run into anything resembling a water lily. Well, she'd recognize anything dangerous on sight, right? Well, nothing like a learning experience!

[[Catch-all post for Viola's second day. Feel free to poke her at any point. Know that she's a raven-harpy, and she's only showing evidence of this at night.]]

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Thinking about her guest while she hunts for the silverware, Viola wonders what she should talk about. Maybe just talk about herself, though given how things are at home she might have to dodge talk about the fae. Or her harpy-ness.

When she comes back, she has two forks and two butterknives. She set one next to Hanako before sitting next to her and setting hers next to her own food. “Got lucky, kitchen’s equipped with just enough.” She settled in. “Ahhh, this is pretty nice. Not having to worry about very much. Wish there was a little more night, though…”

Bowing at Viola in thanks, Hanako likewise settles down to start eating. The meal in front of her is new and there is a lingering tingle of anxiety because she's not sure she's going to like it, but the deed has been done, she made her bed and now she's going to lie in it.

"I suppose w-we'll have to wait for... w-winter before we get t-to see more," she quietly comments, before taking a bite of the meatball Viola likes so much. Her expression remains neutral, but her eyes brighten up a little.

"... It's good."

Viola finally moved to munch on the meatballs after she saw that Hanako was eating. She made a hum that approved of her meal.

"Yep," Viola agreed. "It's a taste to die for~"

Alas, Viola bears a slightly morbid sense of humor. As if she said nothing of the sort, she rolls right into another conversation. "So what do you regularly do back home?"

Personal questions have the odd effect of making Hanako stall a longer time before giving an answer. She would rather listen to the story of other people than say anything about herself. Beyond her less than stellar past and the effective reason why she decided to leave her world behind, she doesn't think she's that interesting.

"I go t-to a school," she begins, boosting herself with a bite of food each time she hears her own voice faltering. "I lived there, uhm... in the d-dorm. I don't do a lot o-other than going to the school's library and reading b-books."

There's also that tiny detail about hanging out with her only two friends, but she'd rather burn that memory off her mind for the time being.

"Ah, so an avid book reader? Neat." This time around, Viola didn't catch the shyness behind Hanako's answer. "My life sounded similar to yours... I didn't go to school until late though, my parents home schooled me." She remained mum on why that was. "Then again, I'm not sure if I would have made friends before I left the house. People, myself included, are a little strange like that."

Viola seemed to be in no rush to eat her food, though it was more like she was savoring every bite and more interested in chatting up her guest. "But what kind of books do you read?"

Strange is one way to describe Viola, if Hanako has to be honest, but it's not the sort of in-your-face whackiness that clowns share. Something is off about the girl, but Hanako is not that eager to find out what it could be. Again, none of that is her business. However, the thing in common about lack of friends has her perked, more figuratively than anything, like a hand extended towards her, communicating that [Viola] might understand how [Hanako] feels. In the real world, she merely lifts her eyelashes a little, after swallowing another bit of meatball.

"I don't have p-preferences," she says, topic shifting to something she can freely speak about with not much awkwardness. "I can get easily i-immersed in a story, no matter what is narrated, or... how it's n-narrated."

"Ah, so a good story is a good story. I see no fault in that," Viola added. While she was certainly hungry enough to eat the meatball, Viola still went about it fairly politely, as if trying not to outpace Hanako in her own eating. "It's nice to get lost in a good adventure, don't you think? An adventure can be filled with wonder, knowledge, danger... maybe all three of those!" Her smile grew a little more impish. "Some of the more fun ones even have romance!"

"The immersion is mostly n-nice," she agrees with a brief nod. "When I read something truly engaging, I f-forget about the time and may accidentally spend hours on it..." Actually, that's a rather shameful confession, although everyone at school knew she was that hardcore of a bookworm, and it's not an intimate secret she wants to necessarily hide. "But it g-gives me an incentive to... forget about the world around me for a little while."

"I know, right?" Viola smiled, as she leaned back again. "Sometimes you just have to forget about the onward march to death and just enjoy life!" Viola is... probably not helping as much as she think she is, but that's more or less her usual self.

"But one thing I've been wanting to do a little more is sew." Viola started to look a little more wistful now. "I made a few things when I was back at home, but I'd like to keep going. When I was younger, I didn't have much to do, so I took up sewing to keep myself occupied. But I just got in the groove of making things before the vacation kicked in. I'd love to keep that going, but I only had a few supplies on me when I came to this place." She gave a sigh. "I'll have to place an order for more stuff, but I doubt I'll get everything."

The wording is rather ominous, and the only thing that shows it affected Hanako is how her hands slightly withdraw after she takes another bit of food. But it's nothing terrible she wants to linger on for long.

Fortunately Viola goes on about her hobby, and Hanako takes mild interest in it. "I tried sewing a f-few times, too," she says. "It didn't stick, but... I hope you get to pick it up again. And, uhm... perhaps you w-will find everything you're looking for."

"I can still hope so," Viola smiled at that "If I do, maybe it'll come true. So... what about you?" Viola asked after a bit of making head way through her food. "You have any passions outside of enjoying books?" She might, or she might not, Viola wasn't a judge of that.

"I..."

That's right. She does have one other thing, though it was never associated to a game young people would play.

"... I enjoy playing chess," she confesses eventually, a little bit of heat raising to her face. "It's not a common thing for p-people my age."

"That so? It's... not particularly common where I come from," Viola admitted with a shrug. "But I'm certainly not judging you on it. I've played it a couple of times, but I don't think I'd be any good."

She laid back. She was pretty sure that Hanako wasn't the adventuring type, but she'd like to make sure. "I've heard about a couple of dangerous things on the island though. Know anything about water lillies?"

"I see," Hanako acknowledges, absent-mindedly eating another meatball. There were no expectations about the other girl being into chess at all. It was a rare occurrence in her school, too. Young students usually gravitate towards wildly different interests, and she never made sure to share her own with anyone except a few select people.

"... I heard about them through the d-daily announcements," she says. "But I n-never questioned their importance here. What about them...?"

"I kinda want some more information on them. I've never heard of waterlillies, so I don't know what makes them so dangerous." Viola answered Hanako's question, in between munching on more meatballs. "I can't exactly just waltz up to some though, mostly because I'd rather not die that way... if that's what they're capable of."

"Before taking a-any action, I think it's best to g-gather information... indeed," Hanako says, feeling a small spark of interest for whatever those waterlillies may signify in this place. As far as she knows, those plants aren't supposed to cause any danger. "Perhaps you could ask o-one of the citizens here about them."

“That’s the plan,” Viola said. “My investigation has to start somewhere. At least I hope they’re helpful; sometimes when it comes to dangerous beings, people clam up and only believe the worst. It’s never very helpful when you want to learn how things like that actually work.” Viola sounded like she spoke from experience. “But fortunately there are still those who believe in the truth!”

"Hopefully they'll be open about it, but w-we don't know the level of superstition that m-may run around here..." Hanako is seriously thinking it over, imagining this to be one of those mistery book stories she'd been engrossed with. "The only way t-to find out is ask, so... I wish you luck in your f-findings."

“Thanks.”

Viola finished her food. At that point, she only waited for Hanako to finish her food, only poking with small talk to keep things from getting awkward or silent. However, once Hanako did finish her food, she asked, “Anything else you wanted to do? Or do you just want a quick escort home?”

Hanako is a slow eater, one that gets often distracted when she talks with someone, just like back home with her friends. Eventually she also finishes before the food cooled down and she finds a blank in her mind when Viola asks if there are other plans for the day. This is enough human interaction to last her a while, she thinks.

"I'd like to... go back to m-my cabin," she says meekly.

"Sure thing," Viola chirped. "I haven't seen any spooks yet, but I'm pretty sure I can protect you from them if they should appear."

She stood up and led the way outside. The sun was still up, even if the sky was far more orange than when they last checked it. The long shadows were hardly any more menacing than they were a few hours ago, but this was a relief to Viola. She'd live up to her word but she doubted she'd feel any braver for it.

The mention of protecting causes her to bite the inside of her cheek hard, but she spares Viola from showing bitter expressions. The other girl means well, and Hanako is sadly not strong enough to handle any spooks that may get her. She'd rather not deal with anything of the sort if she can help it.

Outside, with the chiller air calming her emotions, Hanako silently walks alongside Viola and her eyes are downcast, idly looking at her own shadow. The silence is eerie but well welcomed, although she will give a response if the other girl picks up more conversation.

Fortunately, many of the cabins are right next to each other and thus the walk is pretty short. Viola stays quiet for most of it, and it's only when she reaches the next cabin that the raven-haired girl talks again.

"Well, that was pretty fun. I know ummm..." she searched for the right words mentally before she spoke again. "...you probably have your reasons for being shy, but I hope we meet again."

Hanako presses her lips together, briefly debating an answer with herself.

In the end, she gives a weak nod.

"I will be in... the library most of everyday," she assures. "But if there are m-more gatherings in the future, we m-might see each other there, too."

Phew. That worked out.

"Farewell!" Viola waited for Hanako to go inside before retreating. The light was still a little bright, but perhaps enough cover of darkness would let her fly...

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burntviolet - 2018-10-30 13:51 (UTC) - Expand

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